Restaurant Chain Settles Two Big Wage and Hour Suits

Darden Restaurants,
Inc., will pay $4 million to settle two class action lawsuits, filed in 2004
and 2007, involving alleged wage and hour violations at the company’s Red
Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants in California.
The suits charged that the company violated state law by requiring servers and
bartenders to make up, out of their wages, for cash shortages that existed at
the end of their shifts.

This is just the latest in Darden’s woes in California. Two years
ago, the company paid $9.5 million to approximately 40,000 California workers to settle a lawsuit
alleging that employees were denied meal and rest breaks and were required to
pay for and maintain their own uniforms in violation of state law. And in 2007,
the company agreed to shell out approximately $11 million to settle claims that
some managers were improperly classified as exempt.

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